Room 504, Laaaaaate Wednesday Night

[wesleynotponcy]

Wesley couldn't quite clamp down on the small pained noises that rose instinctively in his throat as he made his way agonizingly slowly up the last set of stairs to the fifth floor. It just figured, didn't it, that his room would be on the top floor when he was in this condition. Well. At least it wasn't too far from the stairwell to his room.

He limped the few steps to his door and unlocked it. He knew that he would have to do inventory of the injuries later, but right now he was focused rather single-mindedly on making sure Katniss had enough food and then collapsing in bed. He rather hoped he'd find her sleeping -- he didn't much fancy the idea of her seeing him like this. It would just be another piece of evidence that he wasn't equipped to take care of someone.

[[For the mockingjay. Up early for probable eventual SP.]]

Comments

[thegirl-onfire.livejournal.com]

Katniss had never found herself attractive or -- god forbid -- sexy, in the slightest. She was too skinny, a girl too thin to afford curves and opted for angles, instead. Her leg (like the rest of her, as Wesley had undoubtedly noticed) wasn't feminine, soft, or anything that she'd ever show off.

But oh, how it tingled right then.

His too-big pants slipped up higher on her leg as she wound her foot against his, revealing a stretch of muscled (but thin -- always too thin) calf, and that hint of skin of hers against skin of his, even if it was just legs and feet and ankles, made Katniss ache for more.

[wesleynotponcy.livejournal.com]

Sensing that Katniss was, very possibly, a fan of this new kind of touching they were doing, Wesley had an idea. One that he wasn't sure would work, and which required him to move his arms away from her neck and shoulders and onto the mattress, one hand on either side of her. Now effectively propped up, he was able to lift his lower body (this was almost like exercise!) and slowly graze the toes of both his feet down the flat of her foot.

Belatedly, he hoped she wasn't ticklish.

[thegirl-onfire.livejournal.com]

She wasn't, but she was sort of squirmy at that touch. Which, given their positions, sent her arching against him a bit.

...and that was a whole new kind of interesting, and Katniss' breath hitched because hi. That bare foot of hers twitched against his, and Katniss maybe needed a minute to remember how breathing worked, period.

[wesleynotponcy.livejournal.com]

Oh. Um, wow.

That had Wesley's heartbeat speeding up a little, and he drew back just far enough to swallow hard and wet his lips a couple of times. Breathlessly, he managed, "That was--", before cutting himself off and realizing that he didn't even know what that was.

[thegirl-onfire.livejournal.com]

"You," she finished, swallowing thickly. "A-and me. Wesley, I...." She didn't even know. Her gut told her that she wanted that again, and more.

Her head told her that that kind of rashness was probably a bad idea. There wasn't a lot of 'waiting for the right moment' back in Twelve -- when there had been a Twelve, anyway.

"Maybe we should slow down?" she guessed softly, and she was sure it was written all over her that she didn't want to. At all.

[wesleynotponcy.livejournal.com]

For a fleeting, worrisome second, Wesley thought that he might have gone too far, and did a quick inventory of the placement of his hands and, er, the rest of him. But then he caught her eye and realized that she didn't mean that at all, flooding him with relief.

"Yes, right," he agreed, blinking a few times. "We should -- and -- right." To reduce the awkwardness, he added, "Before, er, Alex returns."

There, see? No awkward. Note to self: Blaming it on the roommate? Always a good idea.

[thegirl-onfire.livejournal.com]

She laughed (giggled, really) a little uncomfortably, and agreed, "Yeah, for Alex's sake." She played with the hair at the nape of his neck, because slowing down didn't mean stop touching and she had no plan to.

"I just -- " She was struggling for words here, more than usual. "I don't want to stop, so I think maybe we should? Just...'cause that seems like an indication that I'm not thinking like I should be."

Phrase that a little more awkwardly, Katniss. Try.

[wesleynotponcy.livejournal.com]

"Right," Wesley agreed with a nod, completely understanding what she meant despite the awkward phrasing. "It's best to -- ensure we're thinking clearly. Wouldn't want to do anything rash."

With a wince, he pushed himself up off of Katniss and rolled onto his back beside her, trying to avoid putting any weight on her in the process. But it was odd -- the sparks that he'd felt in his chest ever since they'd started this still hadn't gone away, even if they'd faded slightly.

[thegirl-onfire.livejournal.com]

"I...have no idea what I'm doing," she offered, again, because it bore repeating. "I mean, I haven't...done that before, let alone -- well, you know."

Awkwardness twins ahoy!

She was still feeling all fluttery and out of breath, and she longed for him to just get back where he'd been, but she knew this was smarter. Even if she hated it.

[wesleynotponcy.livejournal.com]

"Nor I," Wesley said quickly. "That is to say -- there was one time, when I kissed -- er. Someone from home. Before I came here. But it was... actually rather awful."

Wait, was that okay to say? Immediately he bit his lip, wondering if he'd crossed a line.

"This was -- much better," he added hastily, hoping that would help.

[thegirl-onfire.livejournal.com]

"Wesley, I kissed Peeta on national television regularly for a year," Katniss pointed out with a soft smile. "You don't need to seem so...apologetic, for there being girls before me. I just haven't...done more than that."

[wesleynotponcy.livejournal.com]

Well, he felt a bit silly now. "Oh. Right."

His brain wasn't working too well now, Katniss. As you might imagine.

"Well. Neither have I. But I -- that is to say, if you ever have an interest in... I mean, of course, assuming that you enjoyed..."

Who was bad at phrasing things now?

[thegirl-onfire.livejournal.com]

"You make it sound like I should submit a letter of interest," Katniss said, unable to stop laughing at the idea. She had the nervous-giggles, it seemed. "But, um, yes, Wesley. I...enjoyed that, and have an interest, in, um, more. If you do."

She knew he did.

[wesleynotponcy.livejournal.com]

It was sort of hard not to know that at this point, though he was doing his very best to make it less obvious. Ahem.

"I do," he admitted, aware that that couldn't come as a very big surprise.

He was going to research the hell out of it first. But then yes!

[thegirl-onfire.livejournal.com]

"In small steps," Katniss added, unsure of herself. "...even if you have already seen me naked. But still. Small steps. No matter how much we want to take great big leaping bounds."

[wesleynotponcy.livejournal.com]

"Right. Slow." He could do this! Watchers knew all about doing things agonizingly slowly! It was a paperwork thing. (Maybe her interest-letter analogy wasn't entirely off.) "And I'll, ah. Look into... things. At the library."

Wes, you didn't have to tell her that.

[thegirl-onfire.livejournal.com]

"...and I'll see if I can look into it places that aren't the library." She had no idea who she could ask about it. "Um. I'm sure it'll be informative reading."

[wesleynotponcy.livejournal.com]

"There really ought to be a class," Wesley mused.

Yes. Because he would've loved Dean's class so much. If "loved" meant "squirmed and blushed for the duration of the semester."

[thegirl-onfire.livejournal.com]

"...really?" she wondered. "I can't imagine sitting through a class like that. Do you think there are that many people who need help?"

Yes. Because they were in high school.

[wesleynotponcy.livejournal.com]

Well, his mun could think of at least three. All of whom were her own characters.

"Well, there are an awful lot of students who come from places where this sort of thing likely isn't discussed," he pointed out. "It might be, er, beneficial to have some sort of class on it."

Or it might be traumatizing.

[thegirl-onfire.livejournal.com]

"People have been figuring out sex on their own since the beginning of time, though," Katniss pointed out, frowning (even as she blushed because SHE SAID THE WORD. OH GOD.) "I mean, we were...doing all right, just now, and I've never had any formal training."

[wesleynotponcy.livejournal.com]

Wesley blushed right back, and the blush only intensified when he started to speak. "Well, ah. I mean to say, er. As I understand it, there are, er, precautionary measures that are taken here to... prevent, er. Undesirable consequences. And they might not necessarily be common in all, er, dimensions."

SO, SO EMBARRASSED.

[thegirl-onfire.livejournal.com]

"Like babies?" she asked, because they didn't have any sort of thing like that in District Twelve. Population control? Where? "Because I'd rather not have any children right now, Wesley."

She was still embarrassed, but his embarrassment was far more amusing to her than she'd admit.

[wesleynotponcy.livejournal.com]

"Right! Yes. Exactly." It probably wasn't possible to blush any harder than he was right now without turning into some sort of root vegetable. "I -- I'd rather prefer not to either. Which is the, er, objective of the... contraceptives."

Words! Scary words!

[thegirl-onfire.livejournal.com]

"Contraceptives," Katniss repeated, far louder than he had. Embarrassing him took her mind off her own discomfort, so she would just keep doing that. Plus it was hilarious. "I'll see if I can find someone to tell me about them, then," she decided. "And you can research."